Where there's smoke // L.Valdez

Chapter sixty-one

"This way, Hermosa, hurry up."

"Leo, I have one shoe on!" Persephone protested. "If you drag me out of bed every time you have something to show me, I'm putting a lock on the door. And a curse."

Leo rolled his eyes and halted, crouching in front of her. "Get on then."

"Uh..."

"You have one shoe on, get on."

She blushed as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He placed his hands under Persephone's thighs and took off running again. Spending the majority of his days in Bunker Nice had started giving Leo some serious strength. She shook that thought out of her head, burying her face in between his shoulder blades.

They arrived at the limestone cliff. He still didn't let her down, opening the door to the Bunker and walking inside, where the skeleton of a ship lay hung up. She stared at it in awe, every time she saw it, even though she worked on it with Leo, a lot.

Leo placed Persephone down on a table and placed his hands on her thighs. "Okay, stay here, I need to get something."

He rushed off somewhere inside the bunker calling out to her, "Don't even think of moving 'til I come back!"

She nearly dozed off when Leo came skidding to a halt in front of her, grinning widely.

"That smile." She began. "Either means something really good, or something really stupid. Do I want to know?"

Leo nodded, rapidly.

"Close your eyes and hold your hands out." He told her. She sighed as did so. "Like this." He held her hands and pushed both of her palms together, in a cupping shape. He pulled away, silence followed.

She flinched as something cold and small dropped into her palms.

"You can open." He told her, voice soft.

Persephone's eyes fluttered open, staring into her palms. She let out a soft gasp, picking up the item with her fingers. "Leo-"

"It's the same metal, I found some the other day and I thought of you, and I had to make it."

She caressed the ring in her fingers, tracing the small patterns. "Leo-"

"I noticed you've been playing with your fingers where your ring normally is, so I thought I could make you one. And if you ever lose it, it'll come right back to you. It turns into a sword like the last one, too. I know it's not your old one, but I thought you might like it. Look, I even carved out the little flame details, so you'd be reminded of me whenever you look at it. And if you ever need me, just touch this button here and I'll know you need me. I can even answer it, if the ring gets hot it means I got your message..." He trailed off, unable to read her expression. "Do you- do you like it?"

She looked up at him, eyes watering slightly. "I love it, Leo. Thank you." She hugged him, tightly. The son of Hephaestus hesitated before hugging her back, breathing in the scent of her hair.

"You sure you like it? Because I can always just start again. I'll to go find some more Olympian silver, maybe my dad has some? Or maybe there's some more lying around here somewhere, I'm sure I can find some somewhe-"

Persephone surged forward and captured his lips in her own, pressing against them, softly.

It took Leo a few seconds to respond, the shock slowly wearing off. He cupped her cheek in one hand, while the other snaked around her waist, pulling her close to him. She played with the curls on the back of his neck and rested her free hand against his chest.

She pulled back when she needed to breathe. She avoided his eyes, cheeks flushed bright red and heart pounding so hard, she was sure Leo could hear it.

"You-" Leo stuttered. "I- We- more."

With that, he captured her lips in his, in another kiss, this one slightly more forceful. She matched his rhythm and only had minor difficulty keeping up with him. Her mind blocked any thought out of her head that wasn't 'Leo, Leo, Leo'. She felt him heating up and pulled away, giggling.

"Careful there, fire boy. You may be fireproof but I'm certainly not." He flushed red at her words, then he smirked, as if wanting to one-up her.

"So you admit you find me hot." He said, smugly.

"Always thought you were, Tinkerbell."

"I give you all the nice nicknames and I get Tinkerbell?" He whined.

"You never told me what any of your nicknames mean. For all I know you could be saying something really insulting to me."

He captured her lips in his for a third time, smiling widely into it.

"Princesa." Leo pecked her lips. "is Princess."

Persephone smiled.

"Hermosa," Her pecked her lips again, "Is beautiful."

Her blush deepened.

"Cariño," He let the peck linger for a second longer. "Means darling,"

"And mi corazón, is my heart." He surged forward and captured her in one last, intense kiss. It said all the words he needed to say to her, and she relaxed against him, smiling softly.

He pulled away and studied her face.

"Where'd you learn to kiss like that?" She muttered.

"I uh, never kissed anyone before." Persephone's eyes widened momentarily, before she smiled widely.

"Me either."

He stared at her and brought her into a hug.

"Leo?"

"Hm?"

"I still hate you for waking me up." She told him.

"Then I guess I owe you many hugs." He grinned, already turning to allow her to get onto his back. "C'mon mi novia."

"Hey, that's a new one! Tell me what that means!"

"All in good time, mi novia." he grinned already walking towards the door of Bunker Nine, teasing the girl on his back.

"Leo!"